LCPS proposal would 'right-size' staff to make up for budget woes

This slide, presented at a meeting of the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education, illustrates the district's budget challenges for the 2016-17 fiscal year.(Photo: Courtesy Las Cruces Public Schools)

LAS CRUCES - Superintendent Stan Rounds updated school board members Tuesday on budget constraints facing Las Cruces Public Schools. The district needs to trim $3.45 million to balance its budget for the next school year, Rounds said — much of which will likely come from reductions in teacher staffing levels.

The district’s operating budget will decrease from $180.3 million this year to $177.4 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1 because of a drop in state funding.

Rounds told board members the district is also budgeting for an anticipated $250,000 increase in the district’s risk insurance, an additional $1.1 million in health insurance costs, and a $600,000 increase in transportation costs. Rounds has also committed $2.1 million to restore three unpaid furlough days the district imposed on all employees to make the current year’s budget work.

Currently, employee compensation — including salaries and benefits — accounts for 92 percent of the district’s operating budget, a figure Rounds has said is far too high. The state average, he said, is closer to 86 percent.

Under the proposal being discussed, Rounds recommends “right-sizing staff,” which would mean a reduction of 18 positions at elementary schools, 14 positions at middle schools, and 38 positions at high schools. However, district officials don’t anticipate any layoffs for teachers under contract.

“If you are a teacher in good standing, working in this district, you will have a contract next year,” Rounds said, adding that he feels the necessary savings can be achieved through attrition, resignations, retirements, temporary terminate contracts and vacancy savings.

Under the proposal, the district would go from $3.45 million in the red to nearly $2 million in the black.

Board President Maria Flores told Rounds she was concerned with the proposed staff reductions.

“The numbers for ‘right-sizing’ are too high, and I’ve asked to go to half,” Flores said. “These are the things that I’m asking for. I don’t see how we can get through with 70 teachers less. If we’re being innovative, if we’re doing ed shifts, if we’re doing creative thinking about high school, I don’t see how this fits in by cutting teachers. We need teachers to do the work.”

Rounds also said he had cut too many assistant principals in anticipation of the current year’s budget constraints, which created difficulty when it came time to evaluate teachers. At Tuesday’s school board meeting, Rounds told board members he has figured out a way to leverage federal funding to hire nine assistant principals.